Gatekeepers of most lucrative games still haven’t ruled on inclusion for next 2 years

Will the league be granted an automatic berth into the lucrative Bowl Championship Series?

No decision has been made, but documents obtained by U-T San Diego show that the gatekeepers of the BCS have serious questions about the future makeup of the Mountain West.

More importantly, the Mountain West wasn’t able to fully answer those questions. That leaves the league’s BCS bid in doubt for the 2012 and 2013 college football seasons.

It’s all up to the BCS presidential oversight committee, which sent several questions in February to Mountain West Commissioner Craig Thompson. The questions pertained to the league’s makeup in 2013, when it has been planning a partnership and possible championship game with Conference USA.

“Would it be the Mountain West’s expectation that the team crowned as the champion of the combined arrangement would be entitled to the annual automatic berth in a BCS bowl if the (Mountain West’s request) were granted?” BCS executive director Bill Hancock asked Thompson on behalf of the committee. “For example, suppose a team currently in Conference USA were to be crowned the champion of the combined grouping of teams, would that team be entitled to the (BCS berth)?

“To be determined,” he replied to Hancock’s question in March.

Hancock also asked if the Mountain West and Conference USA would be treated as a single conference for purposes of BCS revenue distribution.

“If that is not the expectation of the Mountain West and Conference USA, then please describe the expectation with respect to revenue distribution,” Hancock wrote.

Thompson’s reply: “To be determined.”

Thompson’s answers were hamstrung by the lack of certainty surrounding the league in 2013, when San Diego State and Boise State are scheduled to leave for the Big East.

According to BCS performance criteria from 2008 to 2011, the Mountain West qualified for the right to ask the BCS oversight committee for an automatic BCS berth in 2012 and 2013. But that performance criteria included strong seasons by Texas Christian, Brigham Young, Utah and Boise State — all schools that decided to leave the league.

Hancock’s letter shows the committee has reservations about granting such a berth to a league battered by the storms of conference realignment, especially when its future makeup is uncertain. The exact nature of the league’s collaboration with Conference USA is still to be determined.

Thompson still stressed to Hancock that no combination with Conference USA would take effect until 2013.

“It is business as usual this upcoming season,” Thompson wrote.

The committee consists of chief executives from 11 different conferences and Notre Dame, including presidents from the Mountain West and Conference USA. Hancock asked Thompson if representatives from both of those leagues should be entitled to vote on the matter.

“Yes,” Thompson wrote. “The decision on the Mountain West’s request ... should be taken well before any combination between the Mountain West Conference and Conference USA goes into effect.”

Only the Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12, Southeastern, Atlantic Coast and Big East conferences have automatic berths to BCS games. Each conference with an automatic berth gets about $22 million, according to the BCS.